Charles Barkley talks Suns, Being GM

Courtesy of Brad Cesmat

• On Babby’s comment that Barkley might not want to do the “rowing” that the job requires: 
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• “Trust me, the people who have been rowing the boat, they've been rowing the Titanic, just for the record. The Suns are the Titanic. So the notion that I can’t do better than them is ridiculous. The Suns stink. So whoever has been rowing the boat has just done a horrific job so let’s just get that straight and out of the way. I made it perfectly clear that I’m going to be a GM. The Suns know my number. They know that I want to be a GM. I've had a couple opportunities that wasn't very good. I mean I’m not going to give up a great job unless I get what I want. I’m in the driver’s seat. I don’t need their job. I want to be a GM. But the notion that I can’t do better than what they’re doing is ridiculous. Brad, just for the record, you could probably do a better job.”
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• On whether he is serious about becoming a GM:
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•  “ I've talked openly the last couple years about wanting to be a GM. I didn't even know the suns job was going to be open so it has nothing to do with that. Listen, I know my basketball. I know my players. That’s what the job is about. The Suns have not made good draft picks. Whoever you want to blame, you could just blame all of the above because they have not made good draft picks. The two best players on the roster are Goran Dragic and Marcin Gortat. I like both of those players. I like both of those players a lot. But to say the rest, the jury is still out, would be an understatement. They need somebody in there who knows what they’re doing. I’m not going to beg them for a job. I’m not going to worry about it if I don’t get the job. Listen, the people who have been running that ship, crashed and burned it. They need somebody else who actually knows what they’re doing.”
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• On how time-consuming a GM job is: 
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• “I don’t believe it’s a 24-7 job. You draft your players. You have your team. How many trades do you make during the season? You might make a trade. But most of the good teams don’t make a lot of trades during the season. Do you have to be there every day? Of course you have to be there every day. But you have to have a good supporting staff as far as going out scouting players. Listen, this thing is about players. It ain't about the general manager. It’s about the general manager who is picking players. That’s what thing is about. Do I have to be there every day? Of course you have to be there every day. The Suns got to just do a better job of getting players. If you look at their roster, when was the last time they drafted a player – you could actually count … Dragic. They traded him away. When is the last time they drafted a player when you said, ‘OK, we've got a building block for the future.’ I can’t remember the last time they actually had a draft (pick like that). Like some of these teams in the NBA, they stink but you can at least say they have good young players. Like I look at Cleveland. Let’s take Cleveland for example. Kyrie Irving is an All-Star. Tristan Thompson played terrific this year. Even Orlando. Let’s take Orlando. (Nikola) Vucevic had a terrific year. The jury is still out on the kid from St. Johns (Moe Harkless). But Vucevic had a terrific year. I like them going forward. Their (the Suns’) two best players are older players. Dragic is an older player. He’s been in the league a while. Gortat has been in the league a while. The jury is still out on both of the Morrisses. They just have to start drafting better players, plain and simple.”
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• On whether he is prepared to be a GM:
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•  “Actually being on television, that’s actually my job. All I do is watch NBA basketball. Now all I do is watch college basketball because of doing the March Madness. But my job on television is to evaluate every team and talk about it. That’s actually what a GM does. All he does is look at players and evaluate teams. Am I a general manager? No. But the notion that I don’t sit around and watch every basketball game or study every team, that’s absurd.”
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• On whether he wants the Suns GM job: 
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• “I will listen to the job. I want to be a GM. I will listen to the job. I ain't going to let anybody down there tell me about basketball. Let’s get that straight. Their track record ain't that good. Their track record is not that good down there. I don’t know Lon Babby that well. And I don’t know Robert (Sarver) that well. Robert has always treated me good. But the notion that I would let Lon and Robert tell me about basketball players. That’s not going to happen. I can tell you that right now. Robert has treated me great and I don’t know Lon that well. But the notion that I would let them tell me who to draft and who to pick and who to trade, that’s not going to happen. I like my chances better. If they want to hire somebody they can control, who’s going to be a flunky, they've already did that once. They already did that once. I've had this same conversation and I've criticized Michael Jordan. If you’re just going to hire flunkies and you’re going to throw them under the bus when you make bad draft picks, I don’t want that job. The notion that Lance Blanks has been running  the Suns organization, the notion that he’s been drafting these players and making trades, if they think I’m stupid enough or you’re stupid enough to believe that, if they think I’m going to put my name out there and let somebody make bad draft picks and then throw me under the bus, that’s not going to happen, bro. I promise you that.”
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• On whether the Suns can afford him compared to his TNT salary: 
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• “Obviously, I’m probably going to have to take a pay cut. But, listen, dude, I’m not overly concerned about money at this stage of my life. I've been very blessed. I’m not bragging. I've been very blessed. First of all, the Suns are going to come up with every excuse in the world because I think, realistically, I think they want a flunky. It’s easy to hire flunkies and put them out there. I don’t know Lance Blanks but I don’t think he was making any decisions out there. Anybody who thinks Lance Blanks was making decisions for the Suns is an idiot.”
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• On how much he wants the Suns’ GM job: 
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• “I’m not going to campaign for the job. I've been very clear.  I want to be a GM in the NBA. This didn't come up this week when they fired Lance. This is something I've been talking about for the last two or three years. I think we've had this conversation. That’s my next challenge. When I took the TV job, I said I was going to do it for four years. This is my 14^th year. I told them I’m going to quit at some point soon because I need another challenge. I could do it for a long time. But for me personally, I need another challenge. And that’s my next challenge – to run a NBA team.”
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• On whether he could recruit free agents to play for Phoenix:
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• “I think if you've got money, you can recruit anybody. Anytime somebody says money don’t matter, that’s when you know they told the first lie. Take Oklahoma City. Take San Antonio. These guys draft well. They got David Robinson, Tim Duncan. They got Manu Ginobili. They got Tony Parker. They got the big kid, (Tiago) Splitter. You look at Oklahoma City. They drafted Kevin Durant. OK, he’s a lottery pick. But Russell Westbrook went late. Serge Ibaka went late. If you draft well, you shouldn't have to go out and get a free agent every offseason. Can you get free agents in Phoenix? Yeah, you probably can. But you build your team through the draft. But the Suns have not drafted well. I don’t think you could put all your eggs in that basket, like, ‘Let’s make our team bad and hope we get a free agent.’ Because if you don’t get a free agent, you’re going to be screwed. The Dallas Mavericks put all their eggs in ‘If we get Dwight Howard.’ Now they've got a horrible team for the next three years. I don’t think you can build your team like that, trying to get bad and hopefully you get a superstar. A lot of these guys aren't leaving now because it’s a $30 million difference if you leave your team. You've got to just build your team through the draft and the Suns have not done a good job of doing that, plain and simple.”